TITLE:
Obesity Appears to Impact Male Fertility by Degrading Overall Semen Quality Rather than Individual Semen Parameters
AUTHORS:
Joseph Petty, Sami Jabara, Samuel Prien, Lindsay Penrose
KEYWORDS:
Body Mass Index, Obesity, Semen Analysis, Sperm Morphology
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.4 No.15,
November
5,
2014
ABSTRACT: Obesity has become a well-recognized
medical issue. However its exact role in male infertility remains unclear. The
objective of the current study was to determine if an increase inBMIis
associated with an increase in semen parameter abnormalities and if this
relationship was influenced by other patient activities. Charts were reviewed
for one hundred and thirty-three male patients who had also undergone a
complete initial office face to face interview, as part of an infertility
evaluation and a semen analysis. As part of standard patient care, all patients
answered a detailed questionnaire regarding demographics, exposures, medical
and reproductive history as part of their infertility evaluation. Patients were
grouped according toBMIas normal (20 - 24 kg/m2), overweight (25 -
30 kg/m2), or obese (>30 kg/m2). Semen analysis
parameters analyzed included: morphology, volume, concentration, percent
motility, and agglutination. While some parameters suggested trends, results
were similar between the normal, overweight, and obeseBMI, for concentration (P=
0.18), volume (P = 0.845), motility (P = 0.06); %
Positive agglutination: 12%, 7%, 7%(P = 0.668) and % normal
morphology (P = 0.083). Unlike a number of previous studies,
results indicate that there is no statistically significant association
betweenBMIand any of the individual semen parameters tested. Raw data suggested
a trend for decreasing concentration with increasingBMI. Further, data also
suggested equal numbers of oligospermics in each group. However, when the data
looked at globally rather than on the effects on individually parameters (total
number of normal motile sperm cells—NMS), functional sperm cells decreased with
increasing BMI. None of these factors appeared to be affected by other patient
factors. Collectively these data suggest that obesity has a multifactorial
effect on male fertility; possibly due to relationships with the hormone
cascade, body composition and potentially testis temperature regulation.
Further study will be needed to confirm such relationships.